2014 Vancouver municipal election

The 2014 Vancouver municipal election took place on November 15, 2014, the same day as other municipalities and regional districts in British Columbia selected their new municipal governments. As with previous elections, voters elected one mayor, 10 councillors, nine school board trustees, and seven park board commissioners through plurality-at-large voting. Voters also voted on whether to approve a capital budget.

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Incumbent Mayor Gregor Robertson sought re-election with the Vision Vancouver Party,[1] which swept the 2011 election when it elected him and all of the party's city council, park board and school board candidates. In this election, Robertson was re-elected as mayor; however, Vision representation decreased with only six councillors, four school trustees, and one park board commissioner elected. In total, ten Vision candidates were not elected, including five incumbent candidates: one councillor, three school trustees, and one park board commissioner.

The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) came into the election as the second largest party in Vancouver, with two city councillors, two park board commissioners, and one school trustee. Their mayoral candidate was journalist Kirk LaPointe who lost to Robertson in the mayoral race by 10,086 votes. The NPA team gained ground electing three councillors, four park board commissioners, and four school trustees.

The Vancouver Green Party sought to improve on its 2011 results which saw the first-ever Green Party city councillor, Adriane Carr, elected. Carr was re-elected as councillor and was actually the councillor elected with the most votes at 74,077. Additionally, two park commissioners and one school board trustee were elected, giving the Green Party of Vancouver its best result in the history of Vancouver municipal elections.

The Coalition of Progressive Electors, which officially cut ties with former ally Vision Vancouver in 2012, lost its only elected official when school trustee Allan Wong switched from COPE to Vision Vancouver on December 8, 2013, ending decades of COPE representation in the city. COPE contested this election with its first mayoral candidate since 2002, community organizer and former NDP candidate Meena Wong. The party also had candidates for every council seat.[2] Wong placed third in the mayoral race, and no COPE candidates were elected.

New Party Vancouver 1st ran a slate of candidates for all offices. These included Olympic bronze medal winning swimmer Brent Hayden as a park board commissioner candidate, and two incumbent school board trustees Ken Denike, and Sophia Woo, who had been expelled from the NPA in June. However, no candidates from Vancouver 1st were elected.

Nominations for the 2014 vote opened on September 30, 2014 and closed on October 10, 2014.[3]
Vancouver uses an at-large election system for all elected positions; the ten candidates with most citywide votes are elected as councillors.[4]

Just before 8:00 P.M. on election day, voting hours were extended by 45 minutes, at four locations, because of ballot shortages earlier in the day due to high voter turnout.[5]

Vision Vancouver's leadership review on May 4, 2014 resulted in the nomination of incumbent candidates who ran for re-election for the offices they had held, including Mayor Gregor Robertson who had a 99% approval rating from members.

On June 22, 2014, Vision Vancouver held a nomination meeting for candidates to fill one school trustee and four park commissioner seats.[6] Two park board candidates dropped out of the race, but a full slate of candidates was announced on September 10, 2014.[7]

COPE announced its candidates following an open Nominations Conference on September 7, 2014. One council candidate and an additional parks candidate were ratified by the party's Indigenous Equity Caucus at a later date.[10]

Cedar Party

Glen Chernen

The Vancouver Cedar Party, launched in November 2012, believed in strong community roots.[11]

OneCity was a new Vancouver political party launched in May 2014 with the intention of fielding candidates for the November 2014 Municipal Election.[12]

Public Education Project

Jane Bouey

The Public Education Project believed public education is a cornerstone of a democratic society. They wanted education, and the well-being of children and youth, to be given priority attention in the election.[13]

Ten candidates sought election to the position of mayor; four were affiliated with a political party and six were independents. Incumbent mayor Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver was re-elected for a third straight term.

Ten councillors were elected from forty-nine candidates. Of the candidates, thirty-nine were affiliated with a political party; ten were independent. All ten incumbent councillors sought re-election: seven from Vision Vancouver, two from the NPA, and one from the Green Party. NPA candidate Melissa De Genova and Vision candidate Niki Sharma were both sitting Park Commissioners from their respective parties. Of the ten elected councillors, six were from Vision, three were from the NPA, and one was from the Green Party.

Seven commissioners were elected from thirty-one candidates. Of the candidates, twenty-five were affiliated with a political party; six were independent. Two incumbent commissioners sought re-election: one from Vision Vancouver and one from the NPA. Of the elected commissioners, four were from the NPA, two were from the Green Party, and one was from Vision Vancouver.

Nine school trustees were elected out of twenty-eight candidates. Of the candidates, twenty-three were affiliated with a political party, and five were independent. All nine incumbent trustees sought re-election: six from Vision Vancouver (including Allan Wong, who was elected in 2011 as part of COPE, but crossed the floor to Vision Vancouver in 2013),[16] one from the NPA, and two ex-NPA trustees: Ken Denike, and Sophia Woo, who were running for new party Vancouver 1st after being expelled by the NPA in June 2014.[17] Vision and the NPA each had four candidates elected, while the Green Party had one.

The proposed budget for 2015–2018 was $1.085 billion, of which $235 million would be borrowed, requiring electoral approval.[18]

Voters were asked the following three questions:

1. Are you in favour of Council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass bylaws between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018, to borrow an aggregate $58,200,000 for the following purposes?

Parks at $17,950,000

Recreational and exhibition facilities at $40,250,000

Option

Votes

Percentage

Yes

108,382

66.88%

No

53,692

33.12%

Total Votes

162,074

100%

2. Are you in favour of Council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass bylaws between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018, to borrow an aggregate $95,700,000 for the following purposes?

3. Are you in favour of Council having the authority, without further assent of the electors, to pass bylaws between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018, to borrow an aggregate $81,100,000 for the following purposes?

Of the 411,741 registered voters, there were 181,707 recorded ballots, putting the voter turnout at 44.13%.[19] This is an increase from the 34.57% turnout during the previous municipal election in 2011.